State Sen. Tony Avella wants to ban machete possession in New York

[Teh One Who Knocks]

BY Lisa L. Colangelo , Reuven Blau - NEW YORK DAILY NEWS




The sale of machetes should be outlawed after several recent attacks, a Queens pol said Wednesday.

State Sen. Tony Avella plans to introduce a bill to ban the possession of the scary blades in New York.

“The fact that anyone can easily purchase this potentially lethal tool is just crazy,” he said.

Smaller knives such as switchblades and gravity knives are already banned and listed as deadly weapons under state law, but machetes are considered the same as butcher knives.

New Yorkers carrying those knives can be ticketed for a blade longer than 4 inches, an administrative code violation. They face up to 15 days in jail and a $300 fine.

Under Avella’s proposed legislation, the mere possession of a machete could lead to a year behind bars.

In movies like “Machete,” starring Danny Trejo, it’s the vigilante hero carrying the macho weapons. Not so in real life, however, and Avella’s push comes in response to an attack last summer on Long Island in which, according to authorities, a man hacked a teenager to death.

On his way to being arraigned, the suspect, David Sadler, 45, told reporters he’d bought the weapon on Craigslist.

Police say Sadler slashed Terrance Grier, 17, in the neck with the massive blade during an argument down the block from Sadler’s Hempstead home in July.

“I didn’t even know it was possible to buy a machete online,” Terrance’s mother, Greta Price, told the Daily News. “I had no idea that it wasn’t considered a deadly weapon. It should be.”

Price said she visits her son’s grave two to three times each week, adding, “He’d still be alive today if it wasn’t for a machete.”

Terrance wasn’t New York’s only recent machete victim. In October, an unidentified man was slashed in the neck, back, shoulder and arms during an argument in a Bronx restaurant. After the attack, police released a video showing the suspect pulling the machete from an umbrella.

The legislation is the second in a series of law enforcement measures recently proposed by Avella.

The lawmaker also wants to create a new criminal charge for suspects who vandalize police vehicles. That bill is in response to damage done to patrol cars in Brooklyn after a Staten Island grand jury voted not to indict a police officer in the July 17 chokehold death of Eric Garner.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

[FBD]

if it wasnt for a machete

if it wasnt for a gun, if it wasnt for a knife, if it wasnt for that little plastic shiv, if it wasnt for that razor blade, if it wasnt for that sharp pointy stick...

[PorkChopSandwiches]

I find our government to be dangerous, can we ban that

[Hal-9000]